Brooke C. Graduate • Data Analytics • Washington
Mar 29, 2021
I am deeply appreciative of the multiple levels of academic support I received in the Data Analytics Bootcamp. The data analytics “bootcamp” program, by definition, can be formidable. It becomes increasingly technical and complex. And it builds on itself, so failure to learn topics at one level have potential to compound at successive levels. And the fast pace of the program truly never relented. For good reason then, not everyone makes it through (that’s my und...
I am deeply appreciative of the multiple levels of academic support I received in the Data Analytics Bootcamp. The data analytics “bootcamp” program, by definition, can be formidable. It becomes increasingly technical and complex. And it builds on itself, so failure to learn topics at one level have potential to compound at successive levels. And the fast pace of the program truly never relented. For good reason then, not everyone makes it through (that’s my understanding). I came to the program with an undergraduate degree in liberal arts (political science and history majors) from a small liberal arts college and an MBA (focus on strategy and accounting/finance) from a top 20 nationally ranked program. As part of the MBA program, I had had classes in statistics, forecasting, and operations research. Beyond that, I also brought more than a decade as a securities investment research analyst and another decade as an investment banker / M&A banker, primarily covering and/or serving the software industry. In fact, over the decade prior to my data analytics program, I focused on software companies that provide large-scale data analytics and data management capabilities. However, despite my education and experience, which on the surface seem like they should have given me a more resilience in handling the course, I nonetheless experienced serious imposter syndrome during the program. First, I suppose it could be related to my own expectations, which were admittedly high but also self-defeatingly perfectionist. Second, there seemed to be issues unique to my learning style. As an example, on some occasions we as a class installed and configured software necessary for the lesson. However, if your system didn’t install as intended, you could find yourself unable to replicate the exercises and only able to watch what others were doing – or you could work to trouble shoot the installs with the class TAs in a separate breakout room. Either way, there was a decent chance of falling behind. For my learning style, it was often enough problematic and frustrating, and it sometimes reached the point of panic. Third, we would routinely break out into groups to try to use code we had just learned. Always, someone in the groups would share their screen, and often that individual would power through the solution. Not everyone would collaborate. But, from my perspective, many seemed to arrive at the right answer rather quickly. Often seemingly far more quickly than I. By contrast, I sometimes wouldn’t catch “small” errors – be they syntax, flow order, logic, etc. I would fail to remember something or another. Why? I could have been tired at the end of that weekday evening, or sleep deprived that weekday morning, or whatever. Only over time did I realize that my perception wasn’t correct, but not before I became gun-shy in groups. Fourth, I failed to credit real accomplishments. Right from the first homework assignment, I seemed to perform well on the homework assignments. I provided myself adequate time to take the assignments as far as I was able. I got reasonably good at finding answers via Google search, specialty sites like Stack Overflow, specialty articles on Medium or KDnuggets. I also advocated for myself. I was a frequent user of AskBCS learning assistance service. (I never really synched with my first tutor, but I know several of my classmates found good support from their tutors.) Beyond that, the instructor and the TA staff were incredibly generous with their time. They often scheduled remedial group sessions above and beyond the class requirements to make sure laggards caught up. Early on, I attributed my good grades as beginner’s luck. Then I attributed it to all the support. The doubts kept creeping into my mind. The issues quickly compounded, and I began to wonder if I even belonged in the same room as my peers. The feeling of inadequacy became so strong that once or twice I didn’t join my in-class break-out groups. Thankfully, the instructor and the TAs didn’t let me fall through the cracks. I strongly suspect that in other similar programs, it could have been so easy for someone like me to fall through the cracks. Fortunately, the instructor quickly caught onto something not quite going right for me. In a private breakout room, he asked me what was going on, so I told him. With tons of positivity and infectious good humor, the instructor had me walk through what I knew, proving to me that I had learned something after all. And he bridged the gap to the solution, which also helped me understand just how not far off the mark I actually was. Obviously, I cannot speak for what the instructor did for others in my class in private one-on-one meetings, but if those encounters and interactions were anything like what he did for me, it was truly great. I also observe that the instructor had several former students attend our classes and presentations. Their stories and interactive feedback were helpful. In particular, they related when they began to gain confidence with various languages and particular data analytics skills. For me, their comments helped to settle nerves and to provide solid grounding for expectations. I did great with Excel, then I “survived” VBA. In truth, I did reasonably well, but not without sweating through the steep learning curve –a cycle that seemed to repeat with each major learning hurdle. I hit a wall in Python, but after I fumbled briefly, my performance quickly improved. I began to really “get” how to do sophisticated data analytics with Python and Pandas. Then I scorched through SQL, that is until we hit ETL, whereupon I was brought back to earth. (I later learned there was even a ton more to learn on the DBA side.) Then I hit several new humbling walls as we launched into JavaScript, some number of associated libraries, web applications, etc. Other major walls included becoming proficient at passing variables between functions and other chunks of code, using routes in Python to interoperate with JavaScript, etc. Even using GitHub as a group repository. While it was all humbling, it was also a great learning experience. It is hard to explain what happened with me. Despite acing my individual graded assignments, I just was not feeling strong. I just was not convinced I would be able to competently execute with the tools I was learning. I was not giving myself legitimate credit. I so doubted my ability that I could not imagine hiring myself. I was becoming my own worst critic. The imposter syndrome gnawing at me from the inside ultimately led to a real crisis. I feared I would be an impediment to any group I might be assigned on our big, graded group assignments. And the three group projects were major milestones, were more heavily weighted than individual homework, and were mandatory. My runaway angst reached the point that I offered to take a failing grade rather than pull a group down. My fear was no longer a simple issue that could be dealt with by patient but firm encouragement. With a large class to manage, the instructor decided to involve the student success manager (SSM). At that moment, my impulse was to flee, to run away despite strongly desiring to be a valuable, integral part of a team. Thankfully, the SSM, the instructor, and the teams I would be involved with handled me remarkably well. I was given a safe outlet to explain my fears. On one occasion, I was given the option of another path -- to go it alone. And when I opted to return to the original group, the instructor and SSM facilitated my reintegration with the team, despite real awkwardness of the event. Taken together, these steps allowed me to continue to learn to do data analysis programming in group settings. I ended up with high marks for the entire program and, I think, respect from my peers. Significantly, on the final, most important group project, my work turned out to be critical and well executed. (On completion, I journaled the details of my contributions on that project, concluding with, “It was really me.” I also want to point out that the supportive interactions I describe between myself, the SSM, and the instructor occurred multiple times. That included a number of follow-up checks. The SSM handled me with the perfect amount of understanding and encouragement. In the end, I was disabused of my unjustified fears. Their timely, calibrated support was critical. I suspect I could have been crushed for cause by a different, less understanding, less patient instructor or student success manager. I am deeply grateful to them and the groups I worked with for giving me a chance to contribute meaningfully, while I wrestled down imposter syndrome. They gave me the opportunity ultimately to recognize that I produced solid, respectable work that I can take meaningful pride in. I leave the program with solid data analytics skills – and a strong foundation on which to build and shine. But I also leave the program much stronger emotionally, and much better able to tackle imposter syndrome should I ever encounter it again.
Boot Camp Team of GW Boot Camps
Community Team
Apr 01, 2021
Amazing, Brooke! We know that this is a rigorous program and impostor syndrome can be truly challenging. We regret that you experienced this throughout your learning journey but are thrilled you were able to ultimately succeed and come out stronger in the end with hard work and the assistance and encouragement of our team. The student experience is our top priority, and we're glad this commitment to supporting our students resonated with you.
Like you noted, this is a fast-paced program with each lesson building on the last. We do find that as the course progresses, participants feel more confident in their skills, as you did later on, and are happy you greatly benefited from hearing previous students' personal feedback.
Congratulations on successfully graduating and surpassing every obstacle that was thrown your way! We appreciate you sharing your boot camp experience and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.